½ñÈÕÈÈÃÅʼþ

media release (19-139MR)

½ñÈÕÈÈÃÅʼþissues guidance to licensees to protect against share sale fraud

Published

½ñÈÕÈÈÃÅʼþhas provided guidance for Australian financial service (AFS) licensees about how they can mitigate the risks to their clients and business of share sale fraud.

Share sale fraud refers to the fraudulent activity of a person who is not who they claim to be, selling shares that do not belong to them.

½ñÈÕÈÈÃÅʼþhas identified a rise in the instance of share sale fraud, primarily in connection with issuer-sponsored holdings and is providing guidance in Information Sheet 237 Protecting against share sale fraud (INFO 237) to AFS licensees who may be vulnerable to share sale fraud.

Specifically, INFO 237 provides guidance in relation to ASIC’s expectations around licensees’ management of:

  • one-off share sales
  • customer due diligence
  • ongoing customer due diligence
  • intermediary clients
  • anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) training
  • reporting of suspicious matters.

½ñÈÕÈÈÃÅʼþconsiders that robust account opening and customer due diligence practices can be effective in preventing fraudulent activity such as share sale fraud.